


Remembering to Burn

by Shutsumon



Series: Passage Through Shadow [1]
Category: Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And then some!, Canon-Typical Violence, Dark Chosen Children, Extra Crests, Gen, Not Tri Compliant, Some characters have altered backstories, Uses the Japanese terms, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-02 05:53:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11503116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shutsumon/pseuds/Shutsumon
Summary: The Digimon Kaiser, Daisuke and Hikari find themselves in a cave with no digimon, no digvices and no idea how they got there. That's just the start of their problems.A reboot and rewrite of a fic I originally wrote over a decade ago, because why not.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So as mentioned in the blurb this is a rewrite of a fanfic that I originally wrote a very long time ago. This rewrite will change a lot of things from the original and hopefully be better. 
> 
> Anyway notes: 
> 
> Splits off after episode 11 - Lighdramon, the Blue Lighting/ The Storm of Friendship - and doesn't look back. (And it gets even further off track in the next story).
> 
> I'm using Japanese names and terms... except when I don't. eg if the little Mexican girl turns up (not a given) she will be Rosa. I'm also humming and ahhing over Mimi and Jyou's crests because I feel the dub crests actually catch the creator's intent for those traits somewhat better than the actual translations due to cultural differences. However I know a lot of people are purists. I'd be interested in people's thoughts on this.
> 
> Oh, yeah, and if I'm a little mean to Daisuke's parents at time remember this is the opinion of an eleven year old kid so may not be entirely accurate.

The Digimon Kaiser, Ken Ichijouji, was not having a good day. You know you aren't having a good day when one moment you're in the middle of a tough battle with the Chosen Children and the next you find yourself opening your eyes to pitch darkness and lying on cold wet rocks with no idea how you got there.

 _What the hell?_ He sat up and every muscle in his body screamed in protest. It felt as if he had fallen quite a way but nothing seemed to be broken. _Where am I and how did I get here?_

The last thing he remembered was fighting the chosen children, then the world had... Exploded? No more like imploded. Well whatever had happened he needed to figure out where he was, It felt like underground somewhere – though that told him little. The Digital World was huge.

"Wormmon!" he yelled. "Wormmon!"

"It's no good," someone said from behind him.

Ken suppressed a groan. He knew that voice all too well.

"What do you mean, Motomiya?" he snapped as he turned towards him He couldn't see the other boy but he noticed a faint glowing light in that direction.

"Our digimon and D3s aren't here. In fact as far as I can tell there's only the three of us here."

"Hikari's here as well. I think she's still unconscious." Daisuke appeared as he came closer, he was holding something luminescent.. "And I found some glowing fungi. It probably wasn't really wise to pick them but I needed a light source quickly and there wasn't anything else."

"Glowing? So that means we're underground?" Well that confirmed his suspicions.

"Yes, we're in a cave. A large one thankfully." For some reason brief thread of self-mocking irony threaded through Daisuke's voice before he returned to his previous clipped tone. "I can't see any way out close by but I haven't explored properly yet." He paused. "Hikari's on a ledge just above us. I was about to climb up to see if she is all right. I don't suppose that you'd care to join me?"

Ken wasn't sure why but he didn't even think about what to do. He just clambered up the cave wall after Daisuke. When they reached the ledge where Hikari was lying Daisuke placed the bundle of glowing fungi down and prodded it. It reacted to his touch by brightening enough for the two boys to get a good look at her.

The sight of her injuries made Ken gasp. There was a large bruise on her temple and her right forearm was twisted at an unnatural angle – obviously broken. For just a second his mind froze in shocked realisation. He had always assumed that this game would have some sort of player preservation protocols in it and if he killed his opponents they would be booted from the Digital World not actually die. It looked like he was wrong because he had no doubt that Hikari's life was in real danger. If they got out of this situation he would like to have a word with whoever designed this place. Games were not supposed to be dangerous. At the very least he was going to have to rethink his strategy so as not to risk killing anyone. For now he had more important things to do. He took a breath, removed his cloak and began to tear it into strips.

"Motomiya, do you have anything I can use as a splint? We need to set this arm as best we can."

Daisuke stared at him. "Why?"

"Because we can't move her until it's stabilised and we need to get her back to the Real World as soon as possible. She needs a doctor and quickly!"

"I can see that. I mean why do you care?" Even as he spoke Daisuke was rifling through the inside of his jacket and produced a long wooden ruler. "Will this do?"

"It'll have to do." Ken took it and then reached for his whip. He wrapped the flail around the handle to make it even more inflexible. The he paused and gritted his teeth against what would happen next. As he started to push the arm back into place as best he could without risking more damage the unconscious girl screamed. He cringed internally but refused to let it show. He couldn't let his adversary know how confused he was at the moment.. He quickly used the strips of cloth to secure the two makeshift splints to her arm.

A second, quieter groan from her alerted him to the fact that Hikari was waking up. Unfortunately she tried to sit up before either boy could stop her, though both of them moved to do so. Concussion and sitting up do not mix at all well so, of course, she began to vomit violently. Ken was amazed to find that he was the one who held her shoulders gently, guided her so she would spew on the floor rather than her clothes and instinctively murmured quiet reassurances to her. The stress and pain of the situation was obviously too much for because as soon as she finished she passed out in his arms. He checked she was still breathing before gently placing her in the best approximation of the recovery position her arm would allow.

"You confuse me," Daisuke said. "You behave like a monster, you run away from home without so much as a goodbye leaving your parents worried sick and then, just when I'm all primed to hate you, you'll suddenly turn around and do something that proves that you are human after all."

Ken considered this and latched on to the only thing he actually had an answer for. "Worried sick about me?" He laughed bitterly. "All they care about is losing their genius meal ticket." Ken blinked in confusion. _Why am I telling him this?_ He couldn't seem to stop though. "No one cares about me. Not the real me. Everyone wants me to be my brother." Dammit! He really did not need Daisuke Motomiya knowing this.

"No," Daisuke said thoughtfully. "I think they care about you. I've seen them on TV and that's not just grief that their meal ticket is gone. They may not have realised it until you were gone but it's YOU they are worried about not some clone." A strange expression crossed his face. "Now if I didn't go home it's possible that my parents wouldn't even notice I was gone. Jun would notice but not them" He snorted wryly. "At least she doesn't blame me for whatever happened to Yuki."

"Who is Yuki and what happened to them?" Ken stared at the leader of the Chosen Children, His eyes must be getting used to the dim light because he could see the tears that Daisuke blinked away and tried to hide.

"Yukino was my cousin on my father's side," Daisuke said. "She was a couple of years older than me and was always at our place and was almost like another sister to me and Jun. She developed Leukaemia a few years back and I was a match but the bone marrow transplant failed and she relapsed. Then she just disappeared from the hospital. The police thought she must have run away but she couldn't even stand by then and she was just gone." He shook his head. "My parents throw the fact that she would still be here if the transplant hadn't failed whenever I manage to upset them. Jun defends me as best she can but why do they blame me? **It wasn't my fault!** " He shouted the last but and it echoed back from the cave walls in a roar of sound.

"They blame you for an accident of biology?" Ken was shocked. "That's ridiculous!"

"Exactly! So don't try and blame your behaviour on how bad your life is, Ken. It's not an excuse. It may be an explanation but it's not an excuse."

Ken stared at him then bowed his head. "I think that I'd better find an exit." He decided to change the subject quickly. He didn't want to think about this. "Give me half the fungi and you stay here with Yagami. If she vomits..."

"That's what the recovery position is for, isn't it," Daisuke said drily. "To stop her choking if she vomits, but of course I'll keep an eye on her. She's my friend."

Ken just nodded and began to pick his way down from the ledge. It was only as he reached the main floor that he realised that he'd forgotten to tell Daisuke not to call him Ken.

  


***

At the site of the interrupted fight a group of very confused Chosen Children and their digimon were searching for two missing friends and one missing enemy. They had been in the middle of another fight when dark vortexes had manifested around the three missing children before collapsing inwards, disappearing along with their victims. All that had been left were the three unconscious digimon and the vanished kids' D3s. What was worse was when a few moments later Tailmon degenerated to Plotmon. There was no doubt about it. This was very bad.

"It's no good." Takeru said after they had searched everywhere nearby. "We'll have to go home and tell the others what's happened and come up with a cover story. Maybe Koushiro recorded something that will help us figure out what's going on here. Somebody bring their digimon and D3s."

"Even Ken's?" Miyako asked in surprise.

"Especially Ken's I think." Iori said thoughtfully. "For one thing Wormmon may know something about this."

"If he ever wakes up," Miyako said sourly.

"If he doesn't it will still us something. The digimon share our energy so if they don't wake up it means there's a problem with their human partner, right, Takeru? That's why it's so bad that Tailmon has degenerated."

Takeru, who was holding the unconscious Plotmon, just nodded and bit his lip with obvious worry.

"Another thing to consider," Iori added. "Is that while we do have to concentrate on finding out what happened here and getting them back we can't afford to let this opportunity go to waste. Koushiro might be able to come up with a more efficient way to combat Ken if he studies his digivice."

"I never thought of that," Miyako conceded as she picked up Wormmon and Ken's digivice. "What do you think happened?"

The younger child grimaced. "I have no idea."

***

 _I feel different,_ Ken thought to himself as he explored the cave trying to find an exit. _And my neck isn't hurting._ That thought made him pause in surprise. It had been hurting for so long that he had almost forgotten that it did. He'd got used to it but he certainly noticed the absence of pain now and raised a hand thoughtfully to his neck as he carried on his explorations. _Maybe Motomiya is a painkiller for me._ He chuckled to himself at that thought. _I hope that Wormmon is okay._ Now that thought brought him to another abrupt halt. _Why in the world am I worrying about a character in a game_? It wasn't the first time that he'd caught himself developing a bond with the little, green digimon but for once no voice rose out of nowhere to tell him that it was unhealthy to care about something that didn't exist.

Come to think of it whenever he heard that voice his neck hurt worse and he usually did something nasty to Wormmon immediately afterwards. He also had a vague memory of promising someone not to listen that voice. "Curiouser and curiouser," he murmured out loud as he checked another tunnel. It didn't obviously lead to an exit but it didn't seem to be blocked like the last two had either. He was about to move on when some sort of blade was prodded against his back. It tingled in an odd way making think it was an energy weapon rather than metal.

"Do not move, human," A cold, dead voice said. "Or you will die."

Ken froze instantly, somehow resisting the urge to snap at them and ask if they knew who they we dealing with. Common sense dictated that he shouldn't piss off whatever digimon was holding a weapon to his back. "Especially not now he knew that he could actually die. "Who are you?"

"Ah, of course. You don't remember me. I am Metal Fantomon and with me stand an army of other digimon." This was not good. The digimon's very name left a cold, unexplained lump in Ken's stomach. "Make ready to come with me or face your worst nightmares in my Soul Predator attack." Great just great. From what it had said he knew this digimon from somewhere but he had no idea where, except that his guts were telling him it was not a good thing.

"How can I make ready to go anywhere when there's weapon pressed to my back?" He asked in what he hoped was a reasonable tone.

The only reply was a cold chuckle but the weapon was removed and then a strange purple light filled the cave. It was so bright it left Ken blinking while his eyes adjusted. Once it had he looked behind him to see that the light was coming from Metal Fantomon's scythe. The sight of the cyborg ghost only increased the leaden fear in his gut. He definitely knew this digimon. He looked away quickly towards where he had left Daisuke and Hikari. They were also surrounded by digimon of all shapes and sizes. It seemed Metal Fantomon had not been kidding about his army.

Two of them were already dumping Hikari on to a stretcher roughly. Whoever had sent these digimon apparently didn't need rings to control them and they had known about Hikari's condition. This alarmed him because there was nothing in the actions of the creatures that had captured them that spoke of concern.

***

Elsewhere in the caves a teenage girl observed the events on a monitor. There was a scowl on her face as she chewed on her nails nervously.

"Why did you have to drop them so far away from the base?" she asked. "And from such a height? If Yagami had been killed it would have ruined everything!" She took a breath as the Phascomon next to her leaned against her and rumbled soothingly. She scratched the demon koala digimon's ears and relaxed slightly. "Well no harm done, I suppose, but what went wrong?"

"Something interfered and tried to stop the teleport," the boy who was standing behind her said. "It blew the circuits as well which is why I can't just teleport them again."

"Tsk!" She turned to look at him. "That means someone knows we got back in, Denbe. We have a leak."

"Or this Digital World has gotten better at security," another teenage girl lounged nearby. "We did rather force our way through the crest barrier."

"Airi is right, Chiharu," Denbe said. "They might have detected that. Still it won't hurt to look for a leak. Most digimon don't love us after all." He turned to look at the screen Chiharu was watching. "You know I thought the spore might really have changed him and we might actually be able to recruit him, but no, block the signal and these the same as he ever was."

Airi made an amused sound. "Now there's a headache I really don't need."

Chiharu gave a choking laugh at that but Denbe just looked at Airi in confusion.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "Why would a new ally give you a headache?"

"Don't worry about it," Chiharu said. "Airi's just being a comedienne. Just carry on getting the systems online, please."

"I'm waiting for some things to reboot." He folded his arms. "I know we need Yagami alive but we should just kill Motomiya and Ichijouji now if we aren't going to attempt to convert them. They remain a danger as long as they live and oppose us."

"Without their digimon or digivices?" Chiharu shook her head. "They are no danger to anyone." She looked over at Airi. "Is our guests' accommodation ready?"

"Of course." Airi smirked at her. "This is going to be fun."

"I still don't like this," Denbe said.

Chiharu tilted her head at him. "You are such a pessimist sometimes."

"That's my job, Chiharu," he said. "That's my job."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Chosen Children learn something surprising about Ken and Daisuke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To reiterate the warning in the tags in this fic several characters have altered back stories.

Ken glanced over at Daisuke, aware that the other boy was on the verge of hyperventilating for some reason. They were in a tunnel that was gradually getting lower and narrower and the leader of the Chosen Children was starting to look a bit twitchy to say the least. As he remembered the thread of self-mockery that had threaded through Daisuke's voice when he said the cave they were in was large a suspicion of what was wrong began to dawn on Ken.

"Are you okay?" he whispered.

Daisuke shook his head. "I'm claustrophobic."

Well that confirmed it then. Part of Ken wanted to consider how to use this information to his advantage once they escaped but most of him knew that inflicting permanent psychological damage was not something you were supposed to do in a game. Anyway for now he had a more pressing concern.

"Okay," he said soothingly. "I know that this is hard for you but please try and keep calm. If you panic you may well get all three of us killed."

"That's easy for you to say, Ken!" Daisuke hissed back.

"Show some respect!" Ken said. "I am the Digimon Kaiser and I've asked you many times not to call me Ken."

"Why?" Daisuke shot back. "You never show me any. And what do you want me to call you instead? I'm certainly not calling you Digimon Kaiser or Master."

Ken gave him a startled look. Was the boy actually bartering over what to call him? Right now Ken would try anything to stop his enemy panicking. "Okay then. I guess that we can be informal in the circumstances. They are rather unusual after all. You can just call me Kaiser"

"Not a chance, Ichijouji." It sounded like Daisuke was trying not to laugh but if he was his expression gave no hint of it.

"Whatever." Ken shook his head in disbelief at the conversation. "You're totally unbelievable, Motomiya. Do you know that?" He smirked at the startled expression on Daisuke's face. "Don't get used to it. It's just the strange circumstances." Well at least it had distracted Daisuke from his problem with the cave for a little while.

Unfortunately it really was only for a little while because not far ahead of them the tunnel roof was so low that they would have to crawl to get through it. Ken looked over and was not surprised to see Daisuke starting to hyperventilate again.

"I can't go in there... I can't!" Daisuke whimpered as they watched the digimon attach Hikari's stretcher to some sort of pulley system and haul it into the tiny gap. "I just can't!" His voice began to rise towards hysteria. "I won't!" The digimon didn't even answer. They just surrounded him and began to push him towards the gap. At this point Daisuke collapsed to the floor with his arms over his head, "You don't understand I can't. I just can't."

"I would advise you to persuade your friend to accompany us," Metal Fantomon said in a dead voice "Unless you want him to die here."

"He's not my friend!" Ken snapped. He did, however, kneel down by Daisuke and peel his arms down so he could see his face. "I know it's hard but if you don't crawl through there they are going to kill you and somehow I don't think they will do it quickly!"

"I don't care. I'll die if I go in there as well! Torture is a better way to die."

Ken sighed. "I can see that reason isn't going to work." He gave Daisuke a hard slap. The other boy's head snapped up and his eyes cleared momentarily. Good. "You won't die, Motomiya. You'll probably feel like you are dying but believe me you won't. You're much stronger than that." Inspiration struck and he added in a gentler tone. "And you have to think about Yagami. Would you really want to leave her alone in these circumstances? Prisoner of a bunch of hostile digimon and only me for company?"

"Hi-Hikari?" Daisuke swallowed visibly. "O-okay. I'll try to do for Hikari. She needs me."

Ken let out a relieved breath he hadn't even realised he was holding. "I've got an idea. I'll go first. You can close your eyes and hold on to my ankles. I'll guide you though and you can pretend to yourself that you're somewhere else. Somewhere not enclosed." He got down and prepared to crawl into the tiny tunnel. A moment later he felt Daisuke's hands close on his ankles and started moving forward.

The journey through the tunnel was unpleasant enough for Ken, and he wasn't claustrophobic. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it was like for Daisuke. After they'd been crawling for a few minutes with no sign of the tunnel getting any larger he twisted slightly and whispered to the other boy. "Are you doing okay?"

"N-not really." Came the tremulous reply. "Could you keep talking please? I'm not really having much luck keeping my mind off where I am."

"It might be better if you talk," Ken said. "That way you have to think about what you are saying. Oh wait..."

"Don't start," Daisuke growled. Ken grinned to himself as irritation replaced fear in the boys voice momentarily.

"Okay, I won't." He paused as he considered what to talk about to keep Daisuke's attention away from the enclosed space. "So are you close to your sister?"

"Jun? Yeah." Daisuke gave an affectionate laugh. "She's flighty, boy obsessed, can be rather loud and she calls me brat a lot. I tend to tell people that I hate her even though I don't, and you really wouldn't want to get on her bad side."

"Why not?" Ken asked.

"Well, for example, when I was little I was being bullied at school. My parents didn't notice and the teachers didn't listen when I complained, but Jun did. The bullies were her age -- I mean the age she was then -- but she faced them down all on her own and scared them so badly they left me alone. It wasn't the only time something like that happened either. I swear that when she thinks I'm in danger she magically transforms into a hell spitting vengeance demon."

"In that case I should probably be very glad that she can't get into the Digital World then," Ken said in a mock serious tone. "I severely doubt that my digivice can prevent that sort of transformation."

The silence from behind him was stunned. "Did you just make a joke, Ichijouji? You did, didn't you? Are you sure that you're feeling okay?"

"I'm fine." Ken glanced up and saw that the roof had begun to rise away from them. He stood up cautiously. "Okay, we can stand now."

"Thank goodness for that."

 

***

 

Most of the Chosen Children, old and new, were crowded into Koushiro's room. Mimi was still in America, of course, and Sora was at a tennis tournament this weekend but the small space was still very crowded. To be honest they were beginning to wonder if they shouldn't have met at the computer lab in the first place even if risking sneaking such a large group into the school on a Saturday would have been difficult. After all there was every chance that they would be doing that later.

It had been about two hours since the new Chosen Children had returned from the Digital World down two members and Takeru had just finished describing what had happened when Daisuke, Hikari and Ken vanished. All eyes were now fixed on Minomon - the digimon Wormmon had devolved to when they came through the gate - who had eventually come around but still looked exhausted and was cowering behind Chibimon who seemed surprisingly protective of the Kaiser's digimon. Minomon gazed back at the humans and their digimon worriedly. "Oh..."

"We know that you're worried about Ken, Minomon," Iori said gently. "And that you don't want to betray him. You're a good partner in very trying circumstances, but if you have any idea at all about what has happened to him and the others you really need to tell us."

"Yeah, tell us what he's done with my sister and Daisuke!" Taichi snapped. Minomon cowered away from him, obviously expecting to be hit. "Oh stop that! I am not going to hurt you just for having the misfortune to be his digimon. I leave hurting digimon to that maniac."

"Taichi, this is neither the time nor the place." Yamato put a hand on his friend's arm. "And none of this is Minomon's fault. Try and calm down."

""Ken's not a maniac!" Minomon protested, momentarily defiant, then as he saw the disbelief in everyone's eyes he seemed to wilt. "Well he isn't. He just hasn't been himself since he came back this time."

"That doesn't answer my question." Taichi said in a calmer tone.

"I know. I'm sorry. He really doesn't tell me his plans but I'm certain that he didn't do this. This was someone else."

"I think that he's right." Koushiro waved Ken's D3 at them. "I severely doubt that he would have left this behind if he had a choice and the  source of the dark energy that grabbed them from under the Digital World somewhere."

"Under?" Taichi asked.

"Yes, the source is underground somewhere but the best I can do is narrow it down to a largish area. However almost all of that area is outside Ken's control. You were right on the fringes of it today."

"But if it's someone else then why didn't they take all of us?" Miyako asked. "I got the definite feeling that they chose who they took." She tapped her fingers irritably on Koushiro's desk. "There's something that we're missing. Something important."

Koushiro nodded. "I get that feeling too." They all thought about this for a moment, finally Yamato spoke up.

"Wait a minute!" He looked over at Minomon. "You said that Ken hasn't been himself since he came back this time? Does that mean he'd been to the Digital World _before_ he became the Kaiser."

"Yes, twice," Minomon said. "But he's forgotten everything and the Dark has been whispering to him since that thing hit him. I warned him not listen and he promised he wouldn't but after he forgot it must have overwhelmed him somehow."

"I see," Taichi said. "So possibly this isn't entirely his fault. But what has he forgotten and what hit him?"

"I don't know what hit him," he said. "Not even Gennai knew but he was so sick afterwards and then the Dark started whispering to him. And he's forgotten everything about Ryo and the battle against Milleniumon..."

"Who?" Taichi asked. "I've never heard of that digimon."

"No, you wouldn't. Milleniumon messes with the timeline and only a few remember him after he is defeated until he attacks again," Minomon said. "Then they remember him well enough. But that was the first time, not long after Diablomon. The second time was a few months later when one of the great demon lords - Lilithmon - invaded File Island before making a beachhead on Server. She had apparently been building her strength on the Directory Continent for some time but nobody noticed because everyone was too focused on Server since that's where most trouble in the Digital World starts."

"I heard about that!" Plotmon said. "They didn't call us in because Gennai felt it would be too much to ask so soon after you all gave up your crests." She looked at Minomon. "You're saying that the Digimon Kaiser was one of the Chosen Children who fought off the invasion? That was a mess and while they won the Chosen Children were all traumatised because one of their number turned traitor and tried to kill them. That wasn't him was it?"

"No... no that was someone else," Minomon said heavily. "But yes it did get messy. Time was synchronised by then so Ken and the others were always working around family and school like you are now, but she wasn't." He shuddered violently. "I don't like talking about it."

"The worst bit was that Lilithmon had apparently cracked how the Digital Powers had picked the Chosen Children and bound them to their partners. She called some of her own. They even had crests of their own which centred on negative traits that each opposed one of the true crest traits." Chibimon said. "And she trained them well. They were scary."

"From what you say I wish they had called us," Taichi said. "Even without our crests we could have acted as backup and support like we do now. But how do you know about this, Chibimon."

"You mean you can't guess?" Minomon asked. They looked at him blankly. He exchanged a glance with Chibimon.

"Because Daisuke was part of that team, as well," Chibimon said quietly. "And they wiped his memory as well."

 

***

 

It seemed as if they had been working for hours and in spite of their physical fitness both Ken and Daisuke were both exhausted. Daisuke had even stumbled occasionally so they were relieved when they reached a cavern with a spring in it and Metal Fantomon finally called a halt. The two boys sank to the floor and Hikari's stretcher was unceremoniously dumped next to them. Ken crawled over to check on her and saw she was awake if a little groggy.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked softly.

"Dreadful! My arm hurts, my head is killing me and I can't seem to stay awake."

"I'm not surprised." He was uncertain if he should be glad that she hadn't asked why he cared or be worried in case it was a symptom of amnesia. He was considering how to check this but she obviously guessed what he was thinking.

"There's nothing wrong with my memory but this is hardly a good time to argue. It looks to me like all three of us are in the same boat right now so I’m not going to rock it just because you've decided to behave like a human being for once." She looked like she might be going to say something more but just then one of the digimon placed a tray on a nearby rock. There were three bowls of a thin broth, flat biscuits and small cups of water on it.

"Motomiya, there's food." Ken nudged Daisuke because he had dozed off. Then he picked up one of the bowls and knelt down next to Hikari. "Here, I'll feed you." he said gently. "But I'm afraid it doesn't look or smell especially appetising, Yagami."

"I'm not very hungry anyway." She smiled somewhat wanly at him. "I don't want to throw up again."

"I know," he murmured sympathetically. "But at this point that's not likely and your body needs fluid and nourishment to replace what you've lost and enable you to heal."

"He's right," Daisuke said. "But having said that I don't blame you for not wanting to eat the slop."

"Is it foul?" Ken asked.

"No just totally flavourless. If I wasn't so hungry I wouldn't eat it."

Ken sighed to himself. "In spite of that ringing endorsement you do need to eat, Yagami." He broke one of the biscuits up into the broth and lifted the spoon to her lips with one hand as he helped her into a semi sitting position with the other.

"I'll try," she said before taking the first mouthful.

"Good girl." He gave her a warm smile.

"Daisuke wasn't kidding about it being bland," she noted. "But in the circumstances I'm not sure that's a bad thing."

"Shhh," Ken said. "We don't know how long we've got before they make us move so you'd better eat up as quickly as you can."

She frowned. "Perhaps you should eat first then?"

He shook his head. "You need the food more than I do. I can survive missing a meal if I have to." He carried on feeding her the broth then picked up the cup of water. As he did Daisuke pushed something into his hand.

"I just found some painkillers in my pocket."

"Good idea." Ken showed the packet to Hikari. "Are these okay for you?" Once she nodded he pushed two of the caplets out and gave them to her. Once she swallowed them and drank her water he turned back to his own meal. He had just taken his first mouthful of broth when Metal Fantomon gave the order to move out. "I knew it!" He rolled his eyes, downed the water quickly and pocketed the biscuits as he could eat them while he was walking but he had to leave the broth. He looked over at Hikari as the two digimon lifted the stretcher . She was starting to doze off again but suddenly she frowned at him.

"What happened to your hair? Did the Digital World run out of hair gel?"

"What?" Ken blink in confusion. "What about my hair?"

"I think she's referring to the fact that your hair currently looks more like it does in the real world than it normally does here," Daisuke said. "You don't look like you've put your hand in an electric socket right now."

"It does?"Ken ran a hand through it. It was indeed its old flat and silky self instead of feeling like Osamu's. "That's odd. I don't use hair gel to put it up it just does that here. Normally anyway."

Hikari looked at him thoughtfully. "Now that is interesting. I wonder what it means."

 

***

 

Chiharu looked up from the monitor and watched in amusement as Denbe paced back and forth muttering angrily. "Whatever is wrong with you?"

The boy fixed her with an icy stare. "Why are we feeding them?" he snarled. "It's bad enough not killing them but now we're wasting resources on them?"

Airi rolled her eyes. "Firstly Yagami won't be much good to us if she's fainting from hunger and we might as well feed the other two while we're at it. Secondly Lady Lilithmon disapproved of unnecessary killing. She wanted the Chosen Children out of her hair not dead."

"The boss is gone, deleted because of her own incompetence," Denbe said bluntly. "I told her she should just kill them but she wouldn't listen."

"I don't know, _Serenity,_ " Chiharu said in a coldly amused tone. "I'd think you'd be glad of Lady Lilithmon's forbearance or you'd be as dead as you wish them."

"My crest is **Fear** ," Denbe snarled. "The Child of Serenity is dead. And of course I'm glad she converted me but I still think those who won't convert should be killed."

Chiharu exchanged a look with Airi. "I think he's worried that his old friends will remember him." She looked back at the screen which was focussed on Hikari. "Soon we shall meet, Child of Light. I'm looking forward to it." She smirked at the screen.

"And that's another thing," Denbe said. "If the boss was so against killing why are you planning to kill Yagami?"

"It's not certain the ritual will kill her," Chiharu said. "Though it is a distinct possibility." She added when Denbe gave a sceptical snort. "And also it classes as necessary killing if she does."

Denbe looked like he might continue to argue but instead threw his arms in the air. "Fine! But if you aren't going to kill them why grab Ichijouji and Motomiya at all? Ichijouji especially was doing us a service by keeping the Chosen Children occupied."

"I have some questions for them about what happened to the first Child of Vengeance and where our missing member is." Airi curled the flail of her whip around her fingers and smirked. "I'm sure I can persuade the two of them to break their memory cap and tell me what happened." She looked over Chiharu's shoulder at the screen as Daisuke stumbled again. "Looks like we should let them sleep at some point as well. Exhaustion can be a killer."

"They can sleep once they are in a cell," Chiharu said. "They'll escape if we give them a chance."

Denbe stared at the two of them for a moment before stalking out of the room. The two girls waited until they we certain he was out of earshot and then Airi raised her eyebrows at Chiharu. "I told you Denbe was a bad choice for our third let in."

"I know it," Chiharu agreed. "But he's the one who came up with the bypass method that let us back in, so I couldn't really say no."

"No I suppose you couldn't," Airi said. "But his attitude to Lady Lilithmon could be a problem."

"Well, we'll just have to make sure it isn't," Chiharu said.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koushiro manages to locate the caves on the map while the three captives meet the Dark Chosen leading Ken to come to a horrifying realisation.

The Chosen Children had stared at Chibimon and Minomon for several moments before they recovered enough to start the inevitable barrage of questions. Eventually however things had calmed down enough for a reasonably intelligible conversation to resume.

"Okay, I can't see any reason to think you're lying but how can that be true?" Koushiro asked. "But I don't understand. Daisuke didn't even get his digivice until it came out of the Digimental of Courage when Taichi touched it."

"It's because Daisuke had his memory wiped," Minomon said. "His digivice would have caused questions that might have brought the memories back before he could cope with them or worse he might have thrown it out because he didn't know what it was. So he left it with Chibimon."

"I don't think they would even have called him this time given Ken's involvement, but digimon who can armour evolve are supposedly fairly rare," Chibimon said.

"Ah, so that's why they didn't just give the digimentals to us," Koushiro said. "I did wonder." He tapped his fingers on his desk as he thought. "So why did Ken have his?"

"Well he was supposed to keep his memories of his battles along side Ryo," Minomon said. "And apparently his brother thought Ken's digivice was his so he was allowed to keep it in order to keep the peace. Though Gennai thought it was hilarious for some reason. I guess he probably regrets letting Ken keep it now."

"Well given that they took Ken and Daisuke it's likely that all this is connected to what happened back then," Koushiro said. "But why take Hikari she wasn't involved."

"I think it is," Minomon said. "Because the area we were in today was part of Lilithmon's beach head and we know she had a base somewhere around there."

"Probably in the caves," Chibimon said. "We never found out where the entrance was so we'll just have to hope that we can find it. As to why they took Hikari... Well I'm sure it's not good."

"She's the Child of Light," Minomon said. "And she's partnered to an Angelic Digimon. Given that it's two days until Lilithmon's festival, if it is the Dark Chosen they may mean to try and use her energy as a sacrifice to resurrect their mistress. It might even work."

"That sounds like it would be bad for Hikari," Miyako said quietly.

"It's potentially fatal," Minomon agreed. "For both her and Plotmon."

"Oh shit." Taichi yelled. "Let's find those caves." He rushed for the door only to find Yamato blocking his path.

"Running off with no idea where to look won't help Hikari," the Child of Friendship said. "Chibimon says we have two days so let Koushiro do his stuff."

"Let's see. Caves near where you were fighting when they disappeared?" Koushiro tapped a few keys and looked at the screen. "Got it!" He frowned at the screen. "Uh I can only bring up the map for the section nearest the hidden entrance that I found, but I can tell that this cave system is vast. But the fact someone is shielding it makes me think we're on the right track. We'll have to do it the hard way and hopefully we can find a trail."

"And in the meantime let's not count them out. If the three of them can put aside their differences long enough to work together they might be able to escape which would bring the whole thing down around the Dark Chosen Children's ears," Chibimon said.

  


***

  


"Welcome to our humble abode," the fair haired teenage girl was lounging in a comfortable looking chair when the three prisoners were dragged into the room. "I'd say that I hope you enjoy you stay but I think we all know that you won't."

Ken glared at her as the two digimon who were holding him forced him to his knees in front of her. The moment he had laid eyes on her he had felt a strange sense of deja vu and an even stronger sense of a terrible wrongness about her presence in the Digital World.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The girl laughed mockingly. "Me? I'm your worst nightmare." She paused and frowned. "No I suppose that's not quite true. Airi is your worst nightmare." She nodded to where another teenage girl was leaning against the wall. "And Motomiya's worst nightmare is still stuck in the real world for now. I am however Yagami's worst nightmare." She smirked at him and Daisuke. "My name is Chiharu Maruyama. Does that mean anything to you?"

"N-no." Hikari said. The Child of Light had been pulled from her stretcher and made to kneel as well and she seemed to be in some distress beyond that caused by her injuries.

"I wasn't asking you, Yagami," Chiharu said. "I know _you_ haven't heard of me." Her tone suggested that the two boys should have. "But I've been waiting a very long time to meet you. Hopefully you'll live through to ritual. My mistress was very curious about you and your partner." She looked back at Ken. "So does it?"

"I don't recall ever hearing your name before," Ken said truthfully enough though he neglected to mention that even so it sounded familiar.

"Me neither," Daisuke said. "But when you said it I felt like someone had tipped a bucket of icy water over me." Ken blinked and stared at him. He'd felt that as well.

"You did?" Airi said as Metal Fantomon de-evolved into Pico Devimon and flew to into her arms. Ken looked over at her as she cuddled her partner with genuine affection and praised him for a job well done. Immediately the same sense of wrongness that he'd had with Chiharu hit him twice as strongly. Not to mention the fact that her presence made him feel dizzy and nauseous. Apparently it must have showed on his face because she looked delighted even though he had the impression that the effect was mutual. "I think he almost recognised me." She straightened, still holding Pico Devimon. "Allow me to show you to your accomodations, so that you can mull over why I scare you shitless. I'm afraid they aren't very comfortable though."

That was it. Ken's frayed temper snapped momentarily. "Don’t you know who I am?!"

Airi's response was to burst into peels of laughter. "I think I know that better than you do, Ken," she said. "And quite apart from the things that you've forgotten and which I'm not going to tell you because it's more fun to let you remember for yourself you're the delusional idiot who things that this is all a virtual reality game!" She was still laughing as she strode towards one of the exits and gestured to the guard digimon to bring the prisoners. When one of the digimon jostled Hikari's broken arm as he grabbed her, making her scream, Airi's laughter just became even louder.

They were dragged along a tunnel and tossed into a small and rather bare cell. There we three human sized bunks that looked like they would be more comfortable than the floor – though not by much - and a toilet bucket with no sort of privacy shield. At least it clean and, Ken admitted to himself, better than the conditions he kept his captives in.

Airi grinned at them through the bars. "If you want to avoid a lot of pain I'd sit there and try to get your memories back, boys. I have some questions for the two of you and I've been waiting a long time for answers. See you later." She vanished back the way they'd entered.

"Well at least they haven't chained us up," Hikari said as she sat down on the floor of the cell and looked at her arm. "Can one of you give me a hand here? That damned Lakmon knocked the splint loose."

"Let me see." Daisuke said before Ken had time to speak. He straightened and reattached the makeshift splint. "Is there enough of your cloak left to make a sling?"

Ken nodded and handed the remains to Daisuke who did a fair job of rigging up a sling. "Where did you learn First Aid."

"Earthquake Preparedness Drills just like you, I'd imagine," Daisuke said dryly.

"Oh, of course. That was a stupid question." Ken sighed and sat down, resting his chin on his knees. He knew that he should be thinking of a way to escape but he couldn't get what Airi had said out of his head. He wanted to believe that it wasn't true. That it had been intended to confuse him but with everything that had happened in the last few hours he wasn't sure that he could, No one else treated the Digital World like a game. He couldn't believe that he hadn't seen it before. He bit his lip and sighed again as a single tear trickled down his cheek.

"Are you all right, Ichijouji?" Daisuke asked.

"I... no... I'm a damned idiot."

He saw Daisuke and Hikari look at each other.

"Why?" Hikari asked neutrally.

"That girl, Airi. She's right. I did think this was all a Virtual Reality game of some sort but it isn't, is it? Now that I think about it I remember that your digimon were at the soccer match in the real world."

"Yes, this is all real," Hikari said. "Did you really think that it wasn't?"

"Yeah, if it were a game it would come with better instructions and there would be a cheat manual," Daisuke added.

"But how can creatures made of data be real?" Ken said plaintively. "I don't understand."

"How can creatures made of a handful of organic compounds be real?" Hikari asked in return. It was an astute question and made Ken stare at her in surprise. "It's not what you're made of but the complexity and level of organisation that counts. After all our bodies are made of data in the Digital World but when we get back to the Real World I'll still have this damned broken arm."

"I-I never looked at it that way," Ken said. "Then again until today I never realised the last bit either."

"I'm glad to hear it." Hikari managed to smile at him even though her arm must be killing her.

"Huh?" Ken said.

"I'm glad because it means you were never really trying to kill us."

"Of course not!" he exclaimed. "I just wanted to get you thrown out of the Digital World permanently, but any of you cold have been killed! And all those digimon. I did kill them!" He shuddered as the enormity of his crimes hit him and he began to sob. "Oh, God! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I should have realised! I'm sorry!" His hysterics came to an abrupt end when Daisuke muttered something about returning the favour and slapped him hard.

"Stop that! We don't have time for you to have a guilt trip right now. Save until we get out of here."

"Yeah, the best thing you can do to make up for it is to help us put it right," Hikari said. She gave him a thoughtful look. "Do you have a Digimental or Crest?" she asked. "You've got a digivice so you obviously must be a Chosen Child."

Ken shook his head. "It was my brother's digivice. I just stoke after he died."

"That's not right," she told him bluntly. "Our digivices are connected to us an our digimon. No one else can use it. It's yours no matter what he thought.

"Really?" Ken frowned as another memory shook lose. Wormmon telling him not to listen when the voice told him that the digivice wasn't his... or something like that but he couldn't remember when it had happened. "I know that I don't have any Digimentals, but what's a Crest."

"It's an external focus for your strongest inner trait," she said. "Which tells you nothing. They look a bit like pendants or key fobs and have markings on them like the Digimentals."

He thought about it before nodding. "Yes! I think I do have something like that. I use it to power my base! It's a little purple thingamajig with a stylised flower bud on it."

"Hmm... I don't know what quality that one represents but it certainly sounds like a cre–" She broke off as she was interrupted by gales of laughter from the cell opposite. She looked across the corridor but couldn't see who was in there because the cell was shrouded in shadow.

"His Crest... purple... bud... how ironic..." The speaker managed to say between laughs as she walked up to the bars so they could see her. She looked like a black version of Plotmon and she was still laughing.

"Why?" All three of them asked simultaneously.

"Because," the child digimon said in a surprisingly quiet tone. "The Digimon Kaiser has just described the Crest of Kindness perfectly."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I mention that *really* mess with the back story for some characters in this AU because I *really* mess with the back story for some characters in this AU.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ken, Daisuke and Hikari attempt to escape. The Chosen Children find the trail.

Hikari, Ken and Daisuke stood by the bars of their cell looking at Black Plotmon. She was looking straight at Hikari.

"You are Tailmon's human, aren't you?" she asked. Hikari nodded. "Then you know who I am?"

"I have my suspicions, yes," Hikari said.

"In that case you know that you have no reason to trust me," she said. "But believe me I have no desire to experience the fate our captors have in store for me."

"Is this something to do with the ritual that Maruyama girl mentioned?" Ken asked when Hikari said nothing.

"It is," Black Plotmon said. "They caught be spying on them – which would have been bad enough – but then they realised my species made me a perfect vessel for their ritual. They've been starving me so I won't have the strength to resist which is why I'm stuck in this pathetic form. If you help me escape I know a quick way out of here."

"I see," Hikari said finally. "But like you say we can't trust you."

"True, but look at this way. What choice do you have? We can't wait here until they drain your energy in order to resurrect their mistress in my body or we can make a temporary alliance and escape. Once we're out of their reach we go our separate ways and the next time we meet...."

"We're enemies again," Hikari finished. "That's not unreasonable and I think you're right. We don't have much choice.." She looked at Daisuke. "You're the official leader. What do you think?"

"And that's mattered since?" Daisuke asked, though it was obvious he was joking. He looked over at Black Plotmon. "Okay, we have a deal." Then he turned to Ken. "You're the genius can you figure out how we can get out of the cells?"

"I think so," Ken said. "I have a couple of ideas but which I choose depends on if we're being monitored or not."

"They haven't got the internal monitors to work yet," Black Plotmon said. "I've been able to hear them arguing about it even in here."

"Oh, thank goodness!" Ken said. "In that case it should be quite easy."

  


***

  


"I can smell Daisuke!" V-mon yelled excitedly as they explored the large cave they had discovered. "He was definitely here." He ran to one of the tunnels. "They took him this way!"

"Great!" Taichi said. "Let's hurry. We don't know how far ahead they are.."

They all hurried after the little blue dragon but Iori hung back slightly and looked at Plotmon and Wormmon. "Can you smell your partners as well?" Both digimon nodded but Tailmon looked a bit uncertain about it. Iori frowned at her. "What's wrong, Plotmon?"

"I can smell Hikari," she replied quietly, "But her scent is off somehow and she wasn't walking like the other two. Added to the fact I haven't returned to my Adult form in the Digital World I think she might be injured."

"Yes, that is worrying," Iori admitted. "I hope she's okay."

  


***

  


"Damn!" The expletive that crackled over the intercom came from Denbe who was in their control room working on the internal sensors. "The Chosen Children found the trail." The announcement was loud enough that Chiharu and Airi – who had been elsewhere in the base preparing for the ritual – came running.

"How is that possible?" Chiharu stared at the screen. "Did someone tell them where the entrance was?"

"Maybe." Airi chewed on her lip. "Or may be the Child of Knowledge is just that good. It scarcely matters, we have guests. We have to send them a welcoming committee."

"Yes, indeed," Chiharu said. "It's a shame I can't send Astamon along to greet them." She patted Phascomon sympathetically as he made a sad noise. "Don't worry, you'll still get to go along. They are at the same disadvantage, after all, so Porcupamon will be strong enough." Phascomon perked up at that news.

"It's especially good since Airi and Pico Devimon aren't at that disadvantage," Phascomon said.

"Very true." Airi patted Pico Devimon gently before reaching for her digivice. "Make sure our guests receive a proper welcome. It wouldn't do to be rude just because they are unexpected."

"It will be my pleasure, Airi," he said before evolving to Metal Fantomon.

  


***

  


The Chosen Children had made it through the cramped tunnel to the cave where their missing comrades had been allowed to eat. They didn't need their digimon to tell them that they had stopped there. No one had bothered to clean up when they moved on.

"Well it looks like they are feeding them, at least," Yamato said, looking at the crumbs of biscuit around where the threesome had apparently been sitting.

"From the remains of the fire I'd say that we're gaining on them," Koushiro said. "It looks like it's only about six hours old. For some reason they are moving quite slowly."

"That's assuming that they haven't reached their destination yet," Iori said.

"Oh, we have." The voice was like ice. "And you never will."

"Uh-oh!" The Chosen Children turned around to find a small army of Digimon facing them.

Koushiro's fingers clattered over his keyboard as he brought up his digimon analyser. "Okay, the good news is that most of these are Children and only the Leader is Perfect level." He gestured to Metal Fantomon. "The bad news is that unless our digimon can evolve that's not going to do us much good, and the Perfect is likely to give us trouble."

"Looks like we'll have to find out," Taichi said. He nodded to Agumon and held out his digivice. "Ready to try?"

Agumon nodded and concentrated, evolving to Greymon. "Yes!"

The older Chosen Children's digimon all evolved to their adult forms, as did Patamon. Miyako and Iori exchanged a look before ordering Hawkmon and Armadimon to evolve. The evolved digimon quickly formed a defensive boundary around their partners and V-mon, Wormmon and Plotmon.

"I don't see any evil rings or similar," Miyako whispered. "How do we fight them?"

"Welcome to your first encounter with genuinely evil digimon," Yamato said. "We'll have to fend them off and if possible delete them."

"Del..." Miyako trailed off. "You mean kill?" Her eyes widened as he nodded. "We can't do that!"

"We have to," Yamato said. "We've done it before."

"And they'll have no reservations about killing us," Taichi said. "It's self-defence, Miyako."

"I can't!" she wailed.

"Well just don't stop the rest of us then!" he snapped back.

Conversation was cut off as battle was joined.

"Soul Predator!" A barrage of energy blades shot from Metal Fantomon's energy scythe aimed at the Chosen Children. They scattered, barely getting out of the way. As other attacks came in it became apparent that their enemy was deliberately aiming for the humans not the digimon.

"You weren't kidding about them trying to kill us, were you?" Miyako said as Takeru dragged her into a nearby side tunnel. The other Chosen Children also fled into it and their digimon formed a perimeter around the outside.

"We should be safe here while they fight," Yamato said.

"But why are they aiming at us?" she asked plaintively.

"I guess they think that taking us out is the easiest way to de-evolve our digimon," Koushiro said.

From their hiding place it was impossible to see what was happening so after a few minutes they risked peeking out. The child level digimon were all gone - delete or fled - leaving just three opponents: Meramon, Porcupamon and Metal Fantomon. They already knew that Metal Fantomon was a perfect and Koushiro soon informed that Porcupamon was an adult like Meramon.

"That weird spiky puppet one doesn't look very good," Iori noted. Indeed Porcupamon looked singed, tattered and his spiky metal armour was cracked. There were even a few flames around the edges of the tears and the digimon was desperately patting them out instead of fighting.

"That's Porcupamon, and no it doesn't but you wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of his Madness Broach attack," Koushiro said. "One more attack should do for him. Go Kabuterimon!"

"Mega Blaster!"

The attack struck Porcupamon point blank. The giant puppet fell over and devolved to Phascomon. The demonic koala lay on the cave floor looking stunned for a moment before attempting to flee. It only got a couple of feet before it fell over again, obviously too wounded to run.

Meramon ignored his fallen comrade, going so far as to step over his fallen body to continue pressing his attack against the Chosen. Holsmon seemed to have decided to cover the others because he was engaging Meramon on his own while the others concentrated on Metal Fantomon. The cyborg ghost blocked all their attacks easily but instead of pressing his advantage he turned, scooped up Phascomon and fled.

Meramon continued his attack for a few moments and only when the other digimon started attacking him did he seem to realise he was fighting alone. He aimed one more attack at the tunnel where the Chosen Children were hiding, then fled after his fellows.

Holsmon hit him in the back with a Red Sun and he devolved to Candmon.

  


***

  


"What the hell was your digimon thinking?!" Chiharu pushed Denbe into the wall of the control room. "We could have won that if it weren't for him."

"Him?" Denbe snarled at her. "It wasn't Meramon who ran away." He glared at Airi who looked just as furious as Chiharu. "Why did Metal Fantomon do that?"

"Because Meramon didn't, you idiot!" Airi said. "Phascomon is badly injured – and half of that was Meramon shooting wildly as well - he needs Chiharu's energy and quickly. If Meramon had brought him back Metal Fantomon could have stayed and fought but he just ignored him."

Denbe narrowed his eyes. "The battle was more important," he said but he didn't sound very certain any more.

"More important?" Airi said because Chiharu could only make incoherent rage noises at that. "We're supposed to be a team. Team members have each other's backs." She pulled Chiharu away from him, helped her to a chair and began rubbing her back soothingly. "It's okay, Chi, it's okay. Phascomon will be fine, I promise."

Chiharu laid her head on her folded arms and sobbed.

After a few moments Denbe spoke again. This time in a much more conciliatory tone. "Who's fault it was aside we need to decide what to do about them. They'll be here in less than two hours at the rate they are travelling."

Airi sighed, still rubbing Chiharu's back. "I've got the digimon who fled earlier in the battle laying false trails to try and mislead them, though it probably won't work. I considered ambushes but we don't have time to set them up."

"Lock-down." Chiharu said without raising her head. "There's nowhere outside to hide. We can grind them against the doors like a meat grinder."

"Good idea," Airi said. "Once our digimon are back I'll do that."

"Not bad," Denbe said. "Except what if they find one of the hidden entrances?"

"Not exactly likely," Airi said. "They're invisible from the outside and not even the Child of Knowledge will be able to map the base to find them."

Denbe opened his mouth to protest that but Airi pinned him with a death glare that warned him that she was still furious with him. Her hand twitched towards her whip and he knew he had better shut up before she decided to use it on him. He snapped his mouth shut and turned and watched as a lone Lakmon rattled towards the dungeon with food for the prisoners.

  


***

  


As soon as the Lakmon entered with their meal Ken leapt on it from behind. The hapless child didn't even have time to react let alone get an attack off before it fell unconscious. He bent down and grabbed the keys from it.

"Well that was even easier than I expected." He unlocked Black Plotmon's cell. "I hope that you are going to live up to your end of the bargain.”

"I may be evil but I keep my word," she replied huffily. "Can I get some of that food before we run?"

Daisuke picked up the biscuits. "Once we're somewhere more concealed."

"Fair enough. We are a bit exposed here." She led them along the tunnel until they reached a hatch at the end. "Can you open this please?"

"Ventilation system?" Ken asked as he removed the hatch. He risked a glance at Daisuke. The boy was staring at the opening in horror but at least he wasn't hyperventilating this time.

"Yes," Black Plotmon replied.

"Not again," Daisuke sighed. "What did I do to deserve this?" He took a breath and looked at Ken. "The same drill as before?"

Ken nodded. "You'll be okay."

"Am I missing something?" Hikari asked.

Ken looked at Daisuke. It wasn't his place to tell the other boy's secrets after all.

Daisuke hung his head and whispered, "I'm claustrophobic."

"Oh!" Hikari's eyes widened in sympathy as she looked at the tiny hole they had to enter in order to escape. "I'm sorry."

"We should get going," Black Plotmon said. "They'll discover we are missing soon."

"Okay." Daisuke visibly gritted his teeth and Ken could almost hear the internal mantra of _I have to do this_ going through the other boy's mind. "You lead, Ken next, me in the middle and Hikari last. Be careful of your arm, Hikari."

"Thank goodness we made a sling for it," she said. "I'm probably going to be slow though."

  


***

  


The Chosen Children had come to a small cave with several outlets.

"It looks like those digimon went that way." Taichi pointed to the trail they'd left.

"But it might be a decoy," Iori said. "It's just a little too obvious."

"Or it might be a bluff," Jyou added. "To make us think it's a decoy."

The digimon however had no doubts "Daisuke went this way." V-mon indicated a different tunnel. Wormmon and Plotmon nodded in agreement.

"So it's a clumsy attempt to put us off the trail," Jyou said.

"They're probably watching us right now, you know," Koushiro said. "Possibly listening as well."

"I hope so," Taichi said. "Because I'm coming to get my sister and no one is going to stop me."

  


***

  


"Chiharu." Denbe kept his voice quiet because he knew the two girls were still furious at him.

"What!" She looked up from where she and Airi were tending to Phascomon's injuries. Her eyes were still red from weeping but at least she didn't look like she wanted to murder him any more.

"That Lakmon is taking a long time with the prisoner's food, isn't it?"

"Damn! He's right!" Airi ran towards the cells and returned a few moments later swearing furiously. "They knocked it out and escaped. They've taken Black Plotmon with them as well. I think they're in the ventilation system."

"I told you live enemies were trouble," Denbe said.

"And I told you to get the internal monitors back up!" Chiharu snarled. "This wouldn't have happened if they worked. Honestly what are you good for? You don't have our backs in battle and you can't even do a simple task like that?"

Denbe wanted to protest that it was only a week since they'd got back in and it was a miracle anything worked, but with how angry she was right now arguing would be both futile and foolish. Instead he decided to focus on the positive.

"The outer sensors work so if they get out we'll know. There's only a few external exits from the ventilation system. I'll monitor them so we can send a team to where they emerge."

  


***

  


Ken was about to ask Daisuke if he was okay when the other boy spoke in a stunned tone.

"This is easier than last time."

"You're beginning to realize that you won't die," Ken said. "It was easier to get in as well, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Daisuke said. "But that was because I was even more scared of that Airi girl. Something about her terrified me."

"Me too," Ken said. He almost added that she'd always been terrifying but he couldn't figure out how he knew that and decided to remain silent for now.

A clanking noise came from up a head. "Cover your ears." Black Plotmon disappeared through another grate. "Puppy Howling!" The ululating attack echoed but fortunately was aimed away from them. After a moment her voice floated up to them. "Okay you can come out now." She waited until they joined her. "Now things really get hairy."

"What do you mean?" Daisuke finally handed her the biscuits.

She gobbled them down while Ken checked Hikari's arm then evolved into Black Tailmon. "Ah that's better." She lead them towards an exit from the cave they'd emerged into. "They monitor the caves. I took out the local cameras before they could detect us but they'll notice they aren't working soon enough. We need to move fast and try not to leave a trail."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the combat scene being meh. It's one of my weak points.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisike, Ken and Hikari realise something disturbing.

Ken watched Black Tailmon suspiciously. She claimed to know where she was going but every time that they had a choice of directions the black cat digimon would pause and cock her head as if listening to someone before deciding which way to go.

When she suddenly made a surprised noise and doubled back from one fork before walking through what looked like solid rock about halfway down the tunnel he knew his suspicions were correct. He glanced over at Daisuke and saw that the Keeper of Friendship and Courage was frowning.

"You've noticed it too, haven't you?" he whispered.

Daisuke nodded. "She's getting instructions from somewhere."

"I think you're right," Hikari said. "So do we call her on it?" Her tone suggested that she didn't think that they should.

"Probably not," Ken said. "I don't think pissing of an adult digimon in our current situation is wise."

Daisuke made a choking noise. "In our current situation pissing off a child digimon would be unwise."

"Are you coming or not?" Black Tailmon's head appeared out of the wall. "This is a short cut and I don't think the Dark Chosen know about it."

"Just a moment." Daisuke pretended to examine Hikari's splint. "Are we?" he whispered.

"We'll never get out of this maze of tunnels on our own," Ken said. "So either we trust this evil digimon who's motives are unknown but who has kept her word so far or we might as well surrender to our captors again. I don't think that is a good idea."

"He's right," Hikari said. "We'll have to trust her for now."

"Yeah." Daisuke didn't look especially happy about that. Then again none of them were. All the same they walked through the illusory wall into the hidden tunnel.

"Do you think the other three are looking for us?" Ken asked as they walked.

"Yes, and probably not just them," Hikari said. "I'd be very surprised if Taichi isn't with them and they'll have probably have called in the other older kids as well for something like this."

"Ah." Ken winced. "I'm not sure I want to face your brother and his digimon just yet. They've got every reason to hate me after I what I did to Agumon. Do you think that they'll let me apologise before they kill me." He looked at Hikari who started to laugh. "That wasn't supposed to be a joke."

"I doubt he'll kill you," she reassured him. "After all Yamato is still alive." She tilted her head and gave an odd smile. "Of course Yamato was only trying to beat him to a pulp and delete Agumon not enslave the entire Digital World."

"Huh?" Ken said.

"I second that 'huh?'" Daisuke added. "I mean I know they said they fought a lot but what?"

"It's a really long story," Hikari said wryly.

"You're talking about that time Jureimon manipulated the Child of Friendship into thinking he had to defeat the Child of Courage if he was to fulfil his own potential, aren't you?" Black Tailmon said, making it clear she had been aware of their conversation all along. "That was a pretty neat trick and it nearly worked. It lead to a huge battle between War Greymon and Metal Garurumon and for just a moment it looked like the Chosen Children might destroy each other but that idiot Homeostasis interfered by possessing her." She indicated Hikari. "And giving them a history lesson."

"But apparently not that long." Hikari said. "So Homeostasis is the name of the entity that possessed me?"

"You mean it didn't even introduce itself when it possessed you?" Black Tailmon said. "How rude. And yes, that's its name."

Hikari snorted at that. "We learned a lot that day. Like how our crests represent our strongest and best inner traits."

"Kindness?" Ken asked incredulously, remembering what Black Tailmon had claimed that his crest represented. "But I've been anything but kind."

Hikari gave him a thoughtful look. "Actually you've been exactly that since we got into this mess. You didn't have to be so nice."

"She's right," Daisuke said. "You could have let them kill me in that tunnel. I think it's the Kaiser that wasn't you."

"Really?" Ken looked at his companions in surprise.

"Really!" Daisuke said firmly. Hikari nodded emphatically in agreement.

"Do you need to rest?" Black Tailmon asked. "Because there's a spring here and we're still in a concealed area they shouldn't know about. You all look tired."

They decided to risk a brief break and drank their fill before sitting down near one of the exits.

"Now that you've come to your senses does that mean we're friends..." He  trailed off looking confused and shook his head. "That's weird. I was about to put an again on the end of that question. Where the hell did that come from. I mean I'd like to be your friend but we've never been friends before."

Ken didn't answer immediately. He was too busy remembering a number of odd things he's suppressed at the time. Like the strange feeling of deja vu he'd experienced the first time he saw Daisuke, or the confusing guilt he'd had to squelch when he chained the unconscious Daisuke to a cliff – the feeling that he shouldn't be tormenting a friend this way. Not to mention that he felt somehow responsible for the other boy being claustrophobic which was truly silly.

"It's not just you, Motomiya," he said. "The first time you came to the Digital World I felt as if I should recognise you." He gave a sad smile. "But that mystery aside I'd like to be your friend but I don't deserve it,"

"Tsk," Daisuke said. "You don't have to deserve friends. I mean sure if you were still horrible but as long as you move forward you'll be fine,"

"Do you think the rest of your friends will see it that way?"

"They'll come around," Hikari said. "I'd like to be your friend too."

"Iori might be an issue," Daisuke said. "He's a bit rigid, but we'll talk him around." He held out his hand. "Friends?"

Ken hesitated a moment before nodding. "Friends." As soon as he touched Daisuke's hand a soft multi-hued light surrounded the two of them the cave seemed to drop away. Ken looked down and to his surprise saw a younger version of himself kneeling next to a younger, weeping Daisuke.

"I don't want to remember!" he was saying through his tears. "I don't want to forget V-mon! I don't want to forget Ken! It's not fair."

"I'm sorry." Neither boy could see who was speaking but he certainly didn't sound sorry. "The Holy Beasts have decided it's too dangerous for you to remember what you learned. We've already sent your digimon away. Now give me your digivice."

"No!" The younger Daisuke clung to his digivice but it was pulled from his grip. "I won't forget! I won't!"

"We can't fight them," the younger Ken said. "But our bond is deeper than memory. We'll remember when it matters."

Light engulfed them again and they were back in the cave staring at each other,

"What the hell was that?!" Daisuke's eyes were wide with shock.

"A memory?" Ken said. "At least I think that's what it was even if we were viewing it from the outside. We've been here before and someone made us forget. I don't like this."

"I don't either," Hikari said. "No one should be taking your memories without permission."

"You saw it too?" Daisuke asked.

"We both did," Black Tailmon said. "I wonder what you found out that the forces of 'good' wiped your memories to hide it." The contempt she put on the word good was obvious.

  


***

  


The Chosen Children were following V-mon when he came to such an abrupt halt that Taichi nearly tripped over him.

"What's wrong now?" he asked as he recovered his balance.

V-mon didn't reply but something was obviously happening because he and Wormmon were staring at each other wide-eyed and Miyako's bag was pinging wildly. She opened it and pulled out Ken and Daisuke's D3s - both of which were going off.

"They're both indicating we should go this way." She pointed at a piece of solid looking wall. "I guess we'll have to take the nearest tunnel and hope.

"Possibly, possibly not," Koushiro walked over to where she had indicated and reached out to touch the rock only instead of making contact his hand vanished into it. "As I suspected – this is a hidden tunnel." He walked through the wall.

"They're close by!" V-mon hurried after Koushiro with the others in tow. "I can feel them both. I haven't been able to do that since this mess started."

"I can as well!" Wormmon suddenly seemed much happier. "Follow the digivices!"

"Hikari's digivice isn't going off," Iori said quietly. "I wonder why not?"

"No," Plotmon said. "But I am sure she'll be with Daisuke and the Digimon Kaiser." She hurried into the hidden tunnel.

  


***

  


“I can't believe there were hidden tunnels we didn't know about!" Denbe looked suspiciously at Chiharu and Airi. "You two didn't know those tunnels were there, right?"

"Of course not!" Chiharu said. "Only Lady Lilithmon knew every aspect of these caves."

"Well, someone else did, apparently," he said. "Because someone guided that cat right to them. Someone who could get past our shielding, which means they must be Ultimate level. But she's a dark digimon! Why would she fight us."

"Not every dark digimon is on our side," Chiharu said. "She probably wanted to stop the ritual. The problem is what do we do now? We can't see where they are but we can presume they'll meet up soon."

"Send our best troops do what the normal ones failed to," Denbe said. "And don't handcuff them with that ridiculous injunction to shoot to disable the humans rather than kill them."

Chiharu scowled at that but eventually nodded. "Fine! Go and organise it... but Meramon stays at the base this time.. I don't trust you to have my back any more."

She waited until he had left to gather the troops and then exchanged a speculative look with Airi.

"He's wrong, No one but Lady Lilithmon knew where the hidden tunnels were," Chiharu said softly.

"I know," Airi said. "Things just got a lot more interesting."

  


***

  


"I think we'd better get moving," Ken said. He was still trying to figure out what had happened when he and Daisuke clasped hands, but more immediate concerns like not getting recaptured were also intruding. He looked at Black Tailmon who shrugged.

"We can, but your friends are nearly here, so we may as well wait. My good sister is with them so I'd to be sure her human can talk to her before she sees me. I'd rather not fight today."

"Tailmon is with them?" Hikari asked.

Black Tailmon nodded then cocked her head again before shaking it. "Plotmon apparently. I'm sure that will be remedied as soon as you meet up though."

"Who are you talking to?" Daisuke said in exasperation.

"Not telling," Black Tailmon said. "You wouldn't like the answer."

Before he could interrogate her more V-mon seemed to explode out of one of the tunnels and landed in his stomach.

Ken watched as Daisuke tried to recover his breath from V-mon's over-enthusiastic greeting then turned to look up the tunnel he'd emerged from. The other Chosen Children were walking towards them at a more sedate pace and Hikari had climbed to her feet and gone to meet them. From where he sat he could hear her chuckling at V-mon's antics.

"Are you okay, Daisuke?" The little blue digimon was dancing around excitedly. "Did they hurt you?"

"I... I'm fine... or... I... was... until... you... landed... in... my... stomach," Daisuke finally managed to gasp. Ken couldn't help smiling as he watched the other boy and his digimon make their way over to the others. He was going to apologise to Wormmon, of course, but after how he had treated him he couldn't imagine ever having such a wonderful relationship with his digimon.

Something nuzzled his hand, he looked down to find Wormmon staring up at him.

"Please don't cry, Ken. It'll be all right." Wormmon nuzzled his hand again. Ken raised his other hand to his cheek and discovered it was wet. He hadn't even realised he was crying until then. He didn't bother wiping them as he picked up his digimon and cuddled him.

"Oh, Wormmon," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I really am."

"I forgive you, Ken!" Wormmon said happily. "I'm just glad that you're back."

"Things are going to change." Ken glanced towards the Chosen Children who were standing just out of earshot, talking and occasionally casting glances in his direction. They were probably trying to decide what to do with him. After all Daisuke and Hikari might have forgiven him but what about the others? Would they? Why should they? The sound of footsteps made him look up again in time to see Taichi and Agumon approaching him. Taichi was carrying his whip. This might hurt.

"Jyou's fixed up a better splint for Hikari," Taichi said, "She told us what you did" He sounded confused as he offered the whip to Ken.

"I'm sorry." Ken looked at the whip for a moment before tossing it aside. It vanished in a puff of data.

"For helping my sister?" Taichi managed to sound both confused and amused at the same time.

"No! Not for that." Ken met his eyes. "I meant I'm sorry for what I did to you and Agumon." He winced at how inadequate that sounded. "I'll do anything to make it up to the two of you. Anything."

Taichi and Agumon looked at each other. "I think that he means it."

"Yeah," the digimon agreed. "So do I."

"So should we accept it now or make him grovel some more?"

"I think we should accept his apology," Agumon said. "I mean look at him. He's punishing himself already, and he did help Hikari and Daisuke."

"You're right." Taichi offered Ken his hand to help him up. "Okay, apology accepted." He grinned at Ken's surprised look. "We need all the help we can get and you're one of us. We can't afford to hold grudges now you've come to your senses."

Ken hesitated a moment then accepted Taichi's hand and let him pull him to his feet. The welcome the other Chosen Children gave him couldn't be described as warm but it wasn't as frosty as he feared either. Well except for that from the youngest member of the group. When he looked at Iori he could almost see the ice. He searched his mind for something to say that would reassure the boy that he was genuine but nothing would come.

"We should be getting out of here," Koushiro turned to Black Tailmon. "Is there a way out that won't take us back into the tunnels the enemy know?"

She shook her head. "Not from here unfortunately, but there is a cavern fairly close where you'll be able to blast through to the outside instead of making your way to the exit. It's still not in the hidden area but hopefully they won't be able to get troops there before you break through."

"I'll Armour Evolve Armadimon before we leave the hidden tunnels then," Iori said. "That way Digmon can start drilling as soon as we get there."

"Good thinking!" Ken said.

"Thank you," Iori said in a clipped tone.

Ken sighed. "Hida, I really am sorry."

Iori gave him an even colder look than before. "And that's supposed to make everything okay?"

"No, of course not," Ken said. "Nothing will do that, but I'm going to do everything in my power to make it as close to okay as possible."

"I hope you're serious. If you are I'll work with you, but don't ever expect me to forgive you."

"I won't."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fight, and escape and decommissioning a base

As soon as they left the dubious safety of the hidden passages Black Tailmon hurried the Chosen Children towards a large cavern with only a few exits. She immediately ran to one of the walls and gestured to it.

"Drill here! Quickly!" she said. "We don't have long until they find us."

Digmon did as she suggested but her words proved to be prophetic and before he could break through to the outside a force of ten adult Digimon and a bunch of Child Digimon charged into the cavern led by Metal Fantomon and quickly blocked off all the possible exits."

"Keep drilling!" Daisuke said. "The rest of us will hold them off."

"Dagya!" Was the only acknowledgement they got from Digmon but Iori nodded and ran over to join his partner while the other Chosen Children and their Digimon got into a defensive circle around them.

"The good news is that there are a few less overall than last time," Koushiro said. "The bad news is they've sent more Adult Digimon this time and the Perfect is along again."

Even as he spoke their Digimon were evolving ready to fight. Hikari had reacted with surprising speed given how shaken up she must still be and Nefertimon was already tossing around Rosetta Stones and cutting a swathe through the Child Digimon among the enemy troops.

Miyako still had his digivice so Ken could only watch and feel helpless as Daisuke prepared to get V-mon to armour evolve. Before he could, however, he fell while dodging one of Metal Fantomon's attacks.

"Daisuke!" V-mon yelled and evolved into XV-mon.

"Are you all right?" Ken ran over and helped Daisuke up.

"I'm fine," Daisuke groaned. "But I think my bruises have bruises." He groaned a second time but then grinned widely at XV-mon. "Isn't he great!"

Ken nodded then jumped slightly as Miyako pushed his digivice into his hand. "If you're really on our side help us!" she hissed as they both jumped to avoid another attack. "Make them de-evolve or something."

Ken looked down at his digivice, trying to recall how he did that. Somehow it was all a blur. He hesitated a moment then guessing that he had nothing to lose he held it out and wished for the enemy to devolve. To his surprise it actually worked. His digivice gave out a pulse of black energy and Metal Fantomon was suddenly a Pico Devimon. Before anyone could attack the Demon Child one of the Adults grabbed it out of the air and fled.

"The rest must be natural adults." Ken looked down at Wormmon. "Can you evolve?"

"You want me to?" he asked. Ken nodded. "It's been a while but I think so." There was a pause then, "Wormmon evolve... Stingmon."

Ken stared at his Digimon adult form in amazement. "That's..." he began but was interrupted by Daisuke yelling for him to duck. He hit the floor just as some shards of rock flew through where his head had been only a second before. He looked up in time to see Stingmon's Spiking Finish attack delete his attacker.

_And I thought he was weak and useless. For a genius I've been a damned idiot._

He looked around at the rest of the fight and realised that even with Metal Fantomon and most of the Child Digimon gone they were still outnumbered. As he watched Angemon took some sort of spear attack that was meant for Takeru and then Holsemon was struck by a fireball. Both Digimon fell to the floor and devolved. Ken bit his lip and looked towards where Digmon was still tunnelling through the rock in time to see him break through and sunlight pour into the cave.

"We're through! Everyone retreat!" Iori yelled.

They ran like crazy out into a sunlit valley. Once they were all outside Greymon and XV-mon fired attacks at the cliff above their exit to bring down a rock fall and prevent their attackers from following.

"That was too close," Taichi said, before nodding to Ken. "Thanks for getting rid of Metal Fantomon. Now let's get out of here before they break through after us."

"I shall leave you here, Chosen Children." Black Tailmon bowed. "The next time we meet I fear it will be as enemies but I am grateful for your help."

"And we for yours," Iori said before anyone else could speak. "Thank you for dealing honourably with us."

Black Tailmon bowed again and was gone.

"Hey, Ken! Your arm is bleeding," Miyako said.  
  
He looked down and saw a long but shallow cut on his upper left arm. "It's just a scratch." he reassured her.  
  
"Let me look at it," Jyou said firmly. "No need to take risks."  
  


***

  


It turned out that they had emerged not far from the Dark Tower that they had been fighting over just that morning, though it seemed like years ago now. Jyou had already rushed Hikari through a gate in order to get her the hospital attention she desperately needed but the rest were resting because Ken had asked for their help to decommission his base.

"It shouldn't take long," he reassured them. "I'm afraid that it's gong to be cleaning up the Dark Towers that will take the time. I can turn them off from the base but not destroy them. The only problem is I'm not sure what will happen when I let the enslaved Digimon free. They have every reason to attack me, after all." He paused as his neck prickled and that cold, insidious voice started whispering to him again. On instinct he reached for the warm, purple energy he had sensed within himself when Wormmon evolved. As he grasped it pain flared in his neck and he couldn't bite back a scream. He clenched his fists and threw the energy at the voice. "Shut up! I am never going to listen to you ever again!" He sensed his tormentor's shock and heard a howl of rage, then the presence was gone and the pain with it.

"What just happened?" Yamato asked. "Who were you talking to? I know it wasn't us, and that was one hell of a scream you gave first."

"I don't know," Ken said. "Someone was trying to get into my head and turn me back into the Kaiser. They weren't too happy that I said no. I could sense that before contact was cut. I'm rather afraid that they'll try something else now."

"Whoever they are we'll deal with them," Daisuke said confidently. "What are you going to tell your parents?"

"Apart from 'stop expecting me to be my brother?" Ken frowned. "Well I obviously can't tell them about all this, so I guess I'll have to tell them I needed some time to find myself and hope they are so happy I'm back they don't ask questions."

  


***

  


"I'm sorry, Airi," Pico Devimon said when he returned to the base. "I couldn't maintain my evolution."

"It's not your fault," she replied. "We weren't expecting he would still be able to do that, and even then they were lucky to escape. You did well. How about some chocolate as a reward." She rummaged around in her bag and produced a large bar. Her Digimon tucked into it with obvious relish.

"Why are you rewarding him for failing?" Denbe said.

"He did his best," Airi said. "Why would I punish him for what wasn't his fault."

Denbe gave an annoyed huff. "Why are you Cruelty again?"

Airi just shrugged. "Cruelty isn't Avarice."

"Hnnn?" He looked from where Pico Devimon was still eating to where Chiharu was feeding Phascomon his favourite fruit. "I don't get you two at all. Our entire plan has come crashing down and you're spoiling your Digimon like they won a great victory. It's no wonder they can't fight worth crap." He stalked out of the room with Candmon trailing behind him looking dejected.

"What are we going to do about him?" Airi asked after a moment. "He's behaving worse than ever and I swear he's doing more damage to us as an ally then he ever did as an enemy."

"I don't know," Chiharu admitted. "He got us back in, which counts for a lot, but I think Lady Lilithmon made a mistake recruiting him. Let's wait until we're sure the Chosen Children have gone and then talk outside. I want to see the sun."

  


***

  


"This place is horrible!" Miyako said as Ken led them into his control room.

"Yeah, it's not exactly pleasant is it?" he agreed. "I apparently lost my sense of the aesthetic along with my moral compass." They turned into the control room and he immediately went to the keyboard. He was about to issue the commands that would land the base and turn everything off when Koushiro touched his shoulder.

"Wait!" he said. "Land and open all the cells and order the ringed and spiralled Digimon to go away as fast as possible first."

"Huh?" Ken said. "Oh!  So they'll be too far away to attack when I release them! Good thinking." He tapped the instructions on the keyboard and did some quick calculations as he watched as the dots representing the enslaved Digimon left the base. "Hmmm... about twenty minutes should do it I think." He tapped another command into the keyboard. "I'm also going to put a cease and desist on any automatic attack commands I've got in place. It's not likely anything would happen in the next twenty minutes but let's be sure."

"Good idea," Miyako said. "That would be awkward."

"Yeah." Ken looked around. "I hate this place. I don't know why I designed it this way. No wonder I was in a bad mood all the time. This place is enough to foul anyone's mood." He began closing off the functions and programs that wouldn't effect the behaviour of the ringed Digimon while they waited while the Chosen Children talked among themselves. Once he was confident that all the Digimon were far enough away he issued the command to decommission the evil rings and spirals and turn off the dark towers before powering down the base.

"Is that that?" Taichi asked.

Ken shook his head. "There's one more thing I need to collect before I set the auto-destruct sequence." He was aware that they followed him to the engine room. They probably didn't trust him yet. He certainly didn't blame them for that. He reached up and laid a hand on the black core of the power source. It glowed for a moment and then dissolved in purple light and his crest fell into his hand.

"He really does have a crest," Koushiro said.

"Let's get back and set the auto-destruct," Ken said. "I don't want anyone else to be able to use this place."

A few minutes later, just as the base exploded, the Chosen Children passed through the gate into the Real World and as usual landed in a heap in front of the computer. Before they even had time to groan, let alone disentangle themselves a voice spoke from behind them.

"What the hell is going on?" Jun Motomiya asked from where she stood in the doorway.

"Hum."

 


	7. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An epilogue of sorts to this first story in the Series. Short and possibly confusing. It's just a few hints of where this road will take us.

Even before his visitor spoke Gennai knew that the Sakuttomon before him was no more than a vessel for the entity known as Homeostasis. Both the sense of presence and the blank eyes gave that away, so he bowed to the baby digimon as if it was one of the Holy Beasts themselves. The entity possessing it was, after all, superior even to them.

"How may serve you, Holy Homeostasis?"

"You know what transpired today?" the entity asked in its host's voice.

Gennai did indeed know what had happened. "Yes. It's a good thing Daisuke is still unfeasibly lucky. I feared that they would not get out of that one alive. How did those wretched kids of Lilithmon's get back in? The barrier should have kept them out!"

The entity was silent for a moment. "I'm afraid this outcome may not be as good as you feel. Their survival may actually pose a greater risk to the stability of the Digital World than Lilithmon's chosen killing them would have."

"What?! How?!" Gennai stared at the Sakuttomon. "They're not evil. Not even the Child of Kindness now that he's thrown off the influence of the Dark Seed."

"Sometimes, Gennai, the worst threats to the stability of the world come from the well meaning rather than the evil. We wiped those two's memories for a reason but they are starting to remember. Not much yet but that will change unless something is done."

"What reason could outweigh the fact they'll need their memories to fight Lilithmon's Chosen successfully?" Gennai asked, exasperated. "I trusted you when you said it necessary but explain how them remembering could be worse than Lilithmon returning?"

"You don't need to know that," Homeostasis said. "You just need to ensure their memories stay locked away and keep the Child of Fate away from the Chosen Children. She desires a different outcome to that we wish for and her visions may allow her to bring it to pass if we don't stop her."

"The Child of Fate involved in this?" Gennai still remembered when the holders of the Golden Crests had turned against the Holy Beasts and Homeostasis for reasons they would never explain. Fortunately they mostly stayed out of the Digital World but if they were getting involved again... "That is not good."

"Indeed it isn't. I fear that the path she is set on may be the most dangerous and seductive of all."

"The Prophecy of Shadow and Light!" Gennai gasped. "Surely not! It would be foolishness to risk that path!"

"Indeed, I hope I am wrong," Homeostasis said. "But even if I am the dark surely has its eyes on the Child of Light. Watch over her – we must prevent that future at all costs."

Gennai bowed in acknowledgement. "I will tell them to guard her," he said. "And warn them away from the Child of Fate. But it may be difficult to protect Hikari unless we can figure out what the Dark is planning."

  


  


***

  


Black Tailmon stood in the shallows of the Dark Ocean and bowed to the one who called himself her master. He was in his Perfect form she noticed. Of course, thanks to the bindings placed upon him by a previous group of Chosen Children, he usually was. He could only take his Ultimate form for a few hours at a time, though not many of his servants knew that. That she was permitted to know this secret was a symptom of his misplaced trust in her.

"I led the Chosen Children to safety as you ordered, my Lord," she said. "It was difficult but I found may way out of the caves somehow." He knew that of course, she wouldn't be here if she had failed, but protocol was important. What he didn't know was that her true mistress had aided her in her mission.

His face was completely in shadow and it wasn't the sort of face that could express much emotion but she could hear the smile in his voice when he spoke.

"Very good, my loyal little one," he said. "You have done well."

"Thank you, my Lord." She feigned basking in his praise. In truth she hated him with a passion but he must never know that, must never suspect the truth of her mission until it was too late.

"Now, tell me your impressions of the Child of Light."

"She is everything that you said she would be," Black Tailmon said. "Everything the Child of Light should be. She is both powerful and forgiving. Her light burns very, very brightly."

"Perfect!" he said. "She will do very well for my purposes. Once tainted her power will free me from these bonds and she will lead my armies. Go now, put the plan into action this very night while she is weakened by her ordeal."

"As you wish, my Lord." She gave a flamboyant bow as he vanished back into the depths. _Dark Queen and Mother, what should I do?_ she half thought, half prayed even as she hurried to do his bidding. _Must I carry out this mission even knowing how it will strengthen him if it succeeds?_

_Precious daughter,_ came the faint reply. _I fear that you have no choice. Your position in his favour, your mission for me is far too important to_ _jeopardise._ _Sabotage his plans if you can, but only if it does not risk revealing you to him._

_I will be guided by you in this, my Queen,_ Black Tailmon said. She fetched a flask from her own quarters and returned to the corrupted sea and filled it. Then she turned and using the amulet her supposed master had given her she opened a gate to the Human World and went to find the Child of Light. As she did another thought came to her. _Do you wish me to make contact with the Dark Chosen on your behalf? They must suspect who guided me out._

_No need, my daughter. I trust those two girls to carry out my will without guidance for now and I have plans to contact them myself before long._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thus ends Remembering to Burn. Passage Through Shadow will continue with the next story - Descent into Darkness - where we will - among other things - learn what dire plans the Dark has for Hikari.


End file.
